Taxi Driver Online

Buses, taxis and lorries could be fitted with aircraft style “black boxes” under European Commission proposals to boost road safety.

The Commission, which has set a target of reducing road deaths by half over the next decade, wants to examine putting the devices into commercial vehicles.

Proposals for what are known as “event data recorders” were included in the Commission’s latest Road Safety Action Plan.

As disclosed in the Daily Telegraph last year, the Commission has already spent £2.4 million on examining how the technology would work in a scheme known as “Project Veronica”.

The black boxes could be used to help police piece together what happened following an accident. They could, for example, detect whether a car has braked suddenly or swerved.

In a statement, the Commission said its officials would examine “the added value of developing and installing event data recorders in particular on professional vehicles, to improve technical investigations and analysis of accidents”.

The Commission’s readiness to spend more money on examining the technology has triggered fears that they could be made compulsory in all cars.

But this was denied by the Commission.

Opponents of the use of black boxes have warned their introduction would lead to the further growth of the surveillance state

Supporters of the scheme say it would help drivers involved in an accident prove they were not to blame for a collision.

“Drivers should not be concerned about in-vehicle data recorders. If used properly, they can help to prove a driver’s innocence in disputed cases”, said Robert Gifford, executive director of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety.

Other key plans of the road safety strategy include the compulsory installation of electronic stability control on cars as well as automatic braking systems for buses and lorries.

“One hundred people die every day on Europe’s roads,” said EU transport commissioner Siim Kallas. “We have made good progress since 2001 and we have succeeded in saving nearly 80,000 lives.

“But the number of fatalities and injuries on our roads is still unacceptable.”

The EU proposals were welcomed by Kevin Clinton head of road safety at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. “Moving forward together on road safety is good for the EU. States have much they can learn from each other.

“Given its position as a road safety leader, the UK can share a lot from its experience, but we must remember that there are important lessons for us too.”

“Although a great deal of progress has been made since 2001, it would be wrong to see road safety as a ‘job well done’. More than 35,000 people died in road accidents across Europe last year, and stark figures like these must spur us on to greater achievement in the future.

source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

That's the thing 'IF'? Such a small word with a big consquence

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

Another expensive dumb ass EU Idea...a spy in the car will not prevent an incident and nor will it save a single life, it will only serve to apprortion blame after an accident and it wont even do that accurately....Maybe they should insert some of these black boxes in the brains of some of the numpties that cause accidents through sheer stupidity and bad driving...and also in the brains of drunk pedestrians who also cause many ccidents.

No black box can ever record a persons logic or thinking behind a particular action.

We need higher driving standards and not more invasion on our privacy.

I can think of other places to insert them, but I dont wanna get the edinburgh posse too excited

CC

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Watch it bloodnock, CC's just lulling you into a false sense of security He'll be talking spaceships next

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

That's Sussex's department

Why not just make all vehicles out of the same material as black boxes They never seem to get damaged

its about time, if you drive commercially (as opposed to private) then you should now have a digital card and tachograph, only common sense really

No..its against the rules of common sense, It just proves that governments do not trust anyone, Just as with speed limiters, Tachos can be used wisely but needlessly by the law abiding or abused by the more [edited by admin]..in short they just tend to penalise and cause extra cost at no extra gain to the law abiding while the hardcore offender just cheats and abuses their use.

How any sane thinking Taxi or PH operator would welcome a Tachograph in their motor simply defies all logic, It would come back to bite you in ways you might never imagine.

Sadly I think after 13 years of Nulab Snoopings and erosion of personal freedom people are now beginning to think that being spied on at every oppertunity by the state is normal and acceptable practise...maybe im Old School but the day they Invade my freedom to operate with no element of trust on their behalf is the day I leave the business..

truckers and coach drivers hated the tacho when introduced, now they see it as a valuable tool, and protection from employer abuse and incorrect prosecutions for a variety of offences

spy in the cab?.....no, an accurate mileage, speed and hours check, and a job generator, once drivers couldnt do 20 hours at the wheel you need a two man crew or relief drivers, or nights out

The last thing we need is more Jobs in the Industry...Im all for a fair days work for a fair days pay, but a Taxi or PH driver would be as much use as a chocolate fireguard if he had to stop three times a day for rest breaks, its Different in an HGV whos owners Charge many times more £s per mile travelled as we do and who does not have the customers sitting behind him as he takes a 45 minute or worse has to haul over for the night as his driving times up before he and his client get to their destination..

Would drivers work crazy hours if they knew a record was being kept?

Would drivers drive like madmen if they knew a record was being kept?

Would there be some drivers alive now if these boxes were in their cars when they died?

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IDFIMH

Maybe or maybe not, but, they'd now what happened just before the crash just like they do when an areoplane crashes

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

when was the last time you drove for 4.5 hours?

and its 1 45 minute break after 4.5 hrs driving (not duty) and just like truckers they would have to PLAN thier day

On any busy weekends.......If i start at say 6.30pm Id hope that Id be working non stop until at least 1am or possibly 2am, I cannot afford to do otherwise so 7.5 half hours is not that unusual. If I said OK, I'll take an hour off..then Id have Disappointed Clients that would have to go elsewhere.

I need that type of flexiblity to operate, I cant afford another driver or vehicle as it would not find the extra work to make it pay and If dont take the work when its there to cover the quieter week days then it would not pay either. This is not the Ideal world..the nature of the work is sporadic, unlike HGVs that usually design their operational schedule through a generous amount of advance knowledge of their customer demands.

I have no Interest in working every hour god sends...but i do need to work those hours that make the job viable.

Back to Black box recorders in commercial vehicles..then that is downright unfair as the vast majority of vehicles on the roads are privately owned...why the hell should we be used as an experiment when we do not constitute the biggest cause of road accidents...as always we are the easy targets for those Pillocks that run the EU.